NOVARTIS

An unnamed Novartis executive sold 925,400 Swiss francs ($946,000) worth of shares less than three weeks before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced data from tests of its gene therapy Zolgensma had been manipulated.

“The transaction was thoroughly checked beforehand and then approved accordingly. The person in question was not in possession of relevant material information,” a Novartis spokesman said.

PANALPINA

DSV said on Monday it completed the acquisition of Switzerland’s Panalpina.

FACEBOOK

A delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services will visit Switzerland this week to discuss cryptocurrencies, including Facebook’s Swiss-based Libra project, newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported.

COMPANY STATEMENTS

* Metal Zug AG said it swung to a 5.9 million franc loss in the first half, from a 22 million franc profit, as the company was hurt by ground remediation work at its Zug site, costs and lost income resulting from the SAP roll-out at V-ZUG, and weaker markets, particularly in the automotive sector.

* Orior Group generated revenues of 279.6 million francs in the first half of 2019, which corresponds to an increase of 2.2% from the prior-year period.

* Evolva said CEO Neil Goldsmith was leaving to be succeded by the current Chief Operating Officer (COO), Simon Waddington. It also announced a longterm commercial deal with Cargill for its Stevia sweetener.

* DKSH said it expanded its partnership with Kavo Kerr in Thailand

ECONOMY

No major economic data due. (Reporting by Zurich newsroom and Berlin Speed Desk)